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Tag Archives: rewards

The concept of rewarding oneself for reaching a goal is common advice among weight-loss experts. How many times have you heard or read somewhere that, when you are setting up your weight loss plan, you should incorporate multiple goals and rewards for achieving them?

To be honest, I never did that before. I mean, yeah, there’s lots of good ideas about how to reward oneself without spending lots of money (or any) but much of that stuff I already do for myself anyway. I don’t know, maybe all those diet experts think that if someone’s fat they don’t take care of themselves in non-food ways.

One that is always on the list is “pedicure” (either professionally or DIY))…I already do that once a month, need it or not. You know what I mean? Of course, there are probably people who would LOVE a pedicure as a reward but ideas like that don’t work for me because I either already do it or it isn’t enough to motivate me through a plateau.

However – there is at least one reward/motivation that works for me. It’s clothes. Yeah, I am that shallow. 😉

I’ve talked about this before on Facebook but I find it motivating to consider that I have so many more clothing options than just the stuff at Lane Bryant or plus size dept at Macy’s. Honestly, none of those plus size clothes ever fit me right. I always felt like I looked frumpy, dumpy and dowdy. But when considering clothes as a “reward” – to actually write down something like, “lose 10 pounds = a new blouse” or “reach goal = a pair of 7 for all mankind jeans” – I just didn’t do it…I guess because I didn’t think (at the time) that I “deserved” it.

Remember how I told you that I’m trying to do things differently? In and effort to carve out new neural pathways, this time, I embraced the concept of rewards. When I reached the halfway point I would get a new outfit and when I reach goal, those 7 jeans?, they are mine! (Yes, $200-$500 jeans are ridiculous but I have always wanted a pair and thought that if I rocked the hell out of them, I would never gain enough weight that I couldn’t put them on. 🙂 Right? Like I’d gain 10 pounds and subsequently toss those jeans into a give-away pile??? Never!)

I am actually over halfway to my goal. My goal is to lose 55 pounds (150 pounds). My highest weight, ever, was back in February of this year, when I hit 205. When I started this effort in mid June, I was at 199. As of yesterday, I was at 170 – twenty pounds to go. Time for my ‘half-way to goal’ reward.

So yesterday I went shopping. This is what I got:

These are similar to the shoes I picked up. For some reason, I can’t find a photo of the exact shoe. But, Jones of New York, fake leopard print shoe (yes, they are leather – sorry vegans! 😦 ). On trend and fairly comfy (at least as much as a pump can be) – I love them and think I can pair them with a lot of things. My partner thinks they are sexy!

I want an awesome pair of red pants (the shoes would look so good with the right pair of red pants) but I have yet to find any. I have tried on at least 3 different pair but either didn’t love the shade or the cut. So instead of red pants, I picked up a pair of jeans and crisp white button down shirt – both classic and wearable in so many ways. I didn’t want to spend too much on these pieces because they will be too big on me in a few months. I got both pieces at the gap.

I have a couple of black leather jackets (I hope they still fit! Otherwise, I am going to look for a tailor to take one of them in.) I can wear with this outfit but I also have a good black cardigan and a couple of jean jackets too. I’d like to pick up a skinny belt to wear with the cardigan and white shirt — maybe a light, gauzy awesome scarf too?

But this is my reward to myself and believe me, I am going to be buying myself a spectacular pair of 7 jeans by the New Year!